A Call To Arms -

Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja The call by leading Muslim leaders on the people to gird their loins against Boko Haram militants amounts to pronouncing death sentence on the insurgent group even as the manner of recent attacks by the sect disproves some popular assumptions about it If information put in the public domain by members of the vigilance group who have been supporting the military in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents last Wednesday is to be believed, there may not be much merriment in this year’s Christmas celebrations for people living in Borno State and its environs. On the back of gruesome attacks in Kano and Yobe states, in which the insurgents killed over 200 Nigerians, the vigilance group, popularly known as Civilian Joint Task Force, JTF, revealed last Monday that the militant group had perfected strategies to take the death toll an all-time high of 100,000 in the few days remaining for 2014 to end, with the use of 50 female suicide bombers. The Civilian JTF attributed the information to a female suicide bomber its members arrested at the at the entrance gate of the University of Maiduguri, while another was apprehended at the busy Post Office area of the metropolis last Wednesday. [caption id="attachment_16299" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Sultan Abubakar- People should take defensive measures[/caption] This magazine gathered last Wednesday that the news about the female suicide bombers primed to unleash death had further put the already bomb- and death-weary inhabitants of the city on edge as at last Tuesday. Desperate times deserves desperate measures, hence University of Maiduguri authorities, on receiving the information immediately banned students from entering the campus with their vehicles while it intensified the already rigorous checks on anybody wanting to gain access to the campus. The information from the Civilian JTF is not one that can be dismissed with a wave of the hand given the fact that two female suicide bombers had a day before the arrests at Maiduguri University gate blown themselves up in the heat of trading at a market in Maiduguri, killing 22 civilians and injuring about 50 others. Scores of people hd also been killed by the insurgents through the use of female suicide bombers at the same market about a week earlier. And in what seemed a confirmation of the vigilance group’s waarning, another teenage female suicide bomber was caught heading towards the Maiduguri market last Wednesday. Reports indicated that the young girl was stopped at one of the numerous road blocks mounted by members of the vigilance group in the city. A search which led to the girl being asked to lift her hijab revealed explosives strapped to her abdomen, the AP reported, quoting Muhammed Abbas, an official of the group. Also, last Wednesday, Nigeria destroyed a vehicle laden with improvised explosive devices,IED, in Konduga, a town barely 30 kilometres to Maiduguri, during which a number of militants of the insurgent group were also killed. It was believed that the rigged vehicle was meant for suicide bombing by the terrorists in Maiduguri. Thus, as people across the country get ready to revel in the merriment of the Yuletide, the people of Maiduguri will certainly be preoccupied with coming up with various ways to survive the bloody schemes of suicide bombers. But their neighbours in Damaturu, Yobe State, were as at the time of writing this story last week still counting their losses from the carnage of one of the most audacious attacks carried out by Boko Haram in the city in recent times. In a move, certainly targeted at making Damaturu part of the Nigerian territories they have declared as their Caliphate, the insurgents launched one of their most brazen attacks targeting the Yobe State Government House, military formations, the Mobile Police Barracks and other buildings occupied by government agencies last Monday morning. Military sources said the plan of the insurgents was to take over the military and security facilities in the town. It was gathered that the insurgents had arrived in hundreds in the Yobe State capital as early as 4.00am from Gujba, a village less than 60 kilometres south of Damaturu, and started shooting sporadically as soon as they entered the city, thus forcing many residents to abandon their houses to hide in bushes. They insurgents then proceeded to sack the Mobile Police Barracks, which they later set ablaze after overcoming resistance by policemen, just as they also succeeded in burning down the administrative block of the Yobe State University and that of the state radio corporation. Reports indicated last week that vehicles belonging to the military and the vigilance group were burnt at the gate of the university. The insurgents then moved towards the Yobe State Government House and the military had to deploy jets to halt their advance, while troops later engaged the militants in the city. Under fire from the military, this magazine gathered last week, the militants were forced to abandon scores of their vehicles engraved with Arabic inscriptions in various parts of the town. While 10 of the Hilux vans used by the insurgents to carry out the attack were bombed by military jets, it was learnt that the militants were able to snatch cars from the state INEC and the university premises to flee Damaturu. Ibrahim Gaidam, the governor of Yobe State, in a statement issued few hours after the end of the siege on his state capital, acknowledged the fact that but for the gallantry displayed by the military, the insurgents would have taken control of Damaturu. The governor condemned the attack as heinous and barbaric. He also expressed appreciation to the security forces who worked very hard on the ground and from the air to repel the attack and force many of the attackers to flee. “As a result of their efforts, Damaturu remains firmly under government control,” the governor, who was away in Abuja at the time of the attack, said in a statement signed by Abdullahi Bego, his spokesman. The soldiers were not just able drive the insurgents away from the city, they also inflicted heavy casualty on them to the delight of inhabitants of Damaturu. Hundreds of the insurgents were said to have been killed while vigilance groups were collaborating with the military to search for members of the sect still hiding in the town late last week. But the casualty among civilians and security operatives is also high, with police and hospital sources putting the number of lives lost to the dawn invasion between 150 and 220. People living in places such as Gujba road, New Jerusalem, GRA and Nasarawa, among others, reported that their streets were littered with dead bodies after the insurgents were successfully routed. It was also learnt that the surviving militants were able to load some of the corpses of their dead colleagues into four Hilux vans and took them away while fleeing. An official of one of the emergency agencies last Wednesday put the number of lives lost to the attack at 150 people, including 38 policemen. An official of one of the major health facilities in the town, the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, also told journalists that 115 bodies were brought to the hospital’s morgue after the attack. He however could not confirm how many of the dead were members of insurgent group or civilians. It was gathered that while six soldiers were killed during confrontation with the insurgents. Emmanuel Ojukwu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police and spokesman for the Nigeria Police, told journalists last week that 38 policemen were killed during the attack. He added that most of the policemen were killed at the mobile police base in Gujba road area of the city. It was learnt that Nansel Chagwang, the spokesperson for the Yobe police command, was among the officers killed. Also lost to the carnage were Arab Umar, the registrar of Yobe State Polytechnic and his two sons; as well as Dr. Hassan Lawan and Dr. Mansur Baballe, who were staff of Sani Abacha Special Hospital. While Senate President David Mark described the attack on Damaturu as “frightening” during a motion on the issue raised by Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) last Tuesday, the senators however said the gallantry displayed by the military during the fight showed that the insurgency war could be won in the end. Even as they commended the gallantry of the troops, residents of Damaturu said it would have been better for them to ensure that the insurgents are completely routed from communities surrounding Damaturu. They noted for instance that the terrorists are virtually living like kings in Buni Yadi, which is about 40 kilometres to Damaturu, where over 40 students were slaughtered by them many months ago. They argued that the attack would have been avoided if the soldiers had gone to confront the insurgents there. This argument cannot be faulted given the fact that the insurgents re-grouped at Garin Itace, a settlement about 20 kilometres to Damaturu, early last Wednesday to re-launch an attack on Damaturu. But they were stopped by timely information provided to the military by local residents which resulted in deployment of fighter jets to halt the advance of the insurgents. The grisly photographs of bloodstained walls, rugs and shoes left behind by the over 100 victims of Boko Haram attacks on Kano Central Mosque graced pages of newspapers last Monday, a sad momento of precious lives cut short by the insurgents in Kano, the most populated city in northern Nigeria, the previous Friday. Kano, one of the cities that have witnessed mass killings by Boko Haram, including the one in January 2011 that claimed over 200 lives, was thrown into confusion on Friday 29 November when bombers and gunmen struck during the Jumat prayers at the Central Mosque situated right next to the Emir of Kano’s palace. Survivors of the attack told journalists that three bombs were detonated in the crowded mosque as the Friday sermon that would have led to prayers was about to end. It was gathered that two others detonated at the gates which lead to the mosque from the palace. It was gathered that the militants also took advantage of the confusion that followed the multiple explosions to unleash further havoc by opening gunfire on the worshippers. However, three of the gunmen were captured right inside the mosque and were immediately burnt to death. Some witnesses said when the police eventually arrived, officers also killed several others in the guise of dispersing the angry crowd. The militants had also last Wednesday, detonated a roadside bomb in ambush of soldiers and hunters on the mission of flushing them out from Mubi, the second biggest city in Adamawa State, and its environs. The soldiers were ambushed in Mararaba, a settlement barely 18km from Mubi, which was only recently liberated from the insurgents by Nigerian troops in collaboration with local hunters. The attack resulted in the death of at least 10 soldiers and 35 hunters. There were also reports as this story was being written last Thursday of attacks by the insurgents on Bajoga, a town in Gombe State. The town is host to Ashaka Cement plant, which was raided by the sect last month during which they reportedly carted away four Toyota Hilux van-load of explosives. It was gathered that Nigerian troops killed over 100 Boko Haram militants in the area between Sunday and Wednesday night in renewed operations to recover territory from the insurgents. The string of attacks unleashed across North-East Nigeria in the past two weeks are in continuance of the escalation of their operations since Nigerian government announced that it was negotiating a ceasefire peace deal brokered by Chad with the sect in October. But the huge relief promised by the ceasefire deal soon evaporated as the militant sect seemed to have up scaled its insurgent activities, attacking and occupying more town and villages which it declared part of its Caliphate. Indeed, Mubi, the hometown of Alex Badeh, Nigeria’s chief of Defence Staff who first gleefully announced that the government was involved in ceasefire talks with the insurgents, as well as Vintim, were some of the settlements taken over by the insurgents when they were supposed to be observing a ceasefire in their fight with Nigeria. Emir, Sultan, Ulamas Fatwa Against Boko Haram The massive displacement of people which swelled up camps in different parts of North-East Nigeria during the supposed peace deal further reinforced the argument that the insurgents were not ready to sheathe their swords. Those suspicious of the ceasefire deal were eventually proved right when, in a video released on 1 November, Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram sect, denied entering into any ceasefire talks with the Nigerian government. “Since the failed October Surprise, Boko Haram has escalated its terror and hardly a week has passed without news of its bombings and seizing of territories. Last Friday’s Kano Grand Mosque attack was merely the most shocking in recent months,” veteran journalist, Mallam Haruna Mohammed, said in his weekly column last Wednesday. Last Tuesday, General Kenneth Minimah, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, agreed at the Annual Conference 2014 held in Akwa Ibom State that the military has in recent times not fully lived up to its responsibility of ensuring security, peace and stability of the country. The COAS noted that while upsurge of terrorism and violent extremism in the North-East has remained the most significant threat facing the country toda, the military has not fully risen up to the occasion by reining in the insurgents. He therefore declared that the conference would be undertaking a review of ongoing operations in the North-East, with a view to bringing a speedy end to the reign of terror unleashed on innocent Nigerians by the terrorists. [caption id="attachment_16296" align="aligncenter" width="247"] •Emir Sanusi: People should protect themselves against Boko Haram[/caption] But leaders who are seeing their people slaughtered in scores and at will by the insurgents cannot afford the luxury of waiting for the military to review its strategy. Hence, there have been calls on the people to rise up and defend themselves against the insurgents. An increasing number of communities in the North-East, in response to such calls are engaging a group of hunters as a standby force against Boko Haram. Now, many analysts believe that the call for self defence, especially to Muslims, may have been responsible for the attack on the Kano mosque. Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, regarded as one of the most influential Muslim leaders in Nigeria, had on 16 November asked the people of the city to defend themselves against attacks by the Boko Haram sect, instead of allowing themselves to be killed cheaply. The Emir tasked residents to “acquire what they need” to protect themselves at a meeting organised to pray against increasing attacks by Boko Haram. “These terrorists slaughter our boys and abduct our girls to force them into slavery. People should not sit idle and say prayer is the only solution. People should be made aware of the importance of being in a state of preparedness and make sure they acquire what they need to protect themselves. We should be ready to give our lives,” the Emir, who addressed the congregation in Hausa, said while urging Kano residents not to wait for the military which has failed in its duty of defending them before acting. The Emir’s call to arms was made in the same mosque that was attacked by Boko Haram and he usually led prayers there when he was around. The traditional ruler was away to Saudi Arabia at the time of the attack, a fact which may not have been known to the insurgents. Analysts said the call for self-defence by the Emir amounted to a Fatwa (death sentence) on Boko Haram and its brand of Islam from the respected Muslim leader. With the attack, Boko Haram may be saying he had no respect for the way Islam was practised in the Kano mosque. Haruna agreed that the Emir may have provoked the attack: “If the Emir was quoted correctly, it was an unwise thing for him to have said because, given Boko Haram’s past response to such threats, it was like waving a red flag before a bull. Actually, worse; with a bull you know what you were dealing with, whereas with the Boko Haram phenomenon, no one knows for sure, at least not anymore.” But the Emir was defiant when he came back to the country a day after the attack, vowing that the terrorist group would not scare Muslims from practising their faith during a visit to the Central Mosque to see the damage done to it by the insurgents. He ordered that the mosque should be cleaned so that prayer can continue there. The Emir, who expressed his sadness at the attack, added that terrorists would not be able to deter Muslims from Islam. Condemning the terror attack, the Emir urged Muslims to see the violence as a surmountable test of their faith, adding that the faith of Muslims must grow in their worship of God for peace and harmony. The traditional ruler added that the attacks had nothing to do with his recent call for communities to stand up and protect themselves. According to him, the attack was an act of evil that Nigerians must stand up against. Before retiring to his palace, the Emir led prayers in memory of the victims killed in the bomb blasts and gunshots as well as the survivors currently receiving medical treatment. “The attack on the Central Mosque should, I think, be seen as a direct challenge to both the secular state, symbolised by Governor Kwankwaso, and the traditional Islamic establishment, symbolised by Emir Lamido Sanusi. The Emir may himself see it that way; on Saturday he led the prayers at the Central Mosque and in remarks is reported as saying that Muslims will not be intimidated into abandoning Islam. So, the Emir posits establishment Islam as the true Islam. “The Islamic radicals called Boko Haram claim that theirs is the true Islam. Among other things, the struggle in northeast Nigeria is a civil war within Islam,” John Campbell of Council of Foreign Relations, an international think tank, said. The call to arms against Boko Haram has been reinforced by the undisputed leader of Muslims in Nigeria, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad. The Sultan, who is also the President-General of the Jamatu Nasil Islam, JNI, in a statement he issued through the Secretary-General of the association, Dr. Abubakar Kahlid, condemned the attack on the mosque in Kano while calling on all Muslims all over the country to remain calm and keep vigil over happenings around them. The Sultan, who said those perpetrating the acts of terrorism were not true worshipers of Allah, called on Imams and their respective followers all over the country to ‘intensify special prayers’, as it was the only weapon to overcome the insurgents. He also urged the people to take all defensive measures within the purview of the laws to protect themselves since government had clearly failed. The Sultan expressed worries that the Boko Haram attacks always escalate whenever there was agitation for the extension of the state of emergency in the troubled North-East states. Apart from the JNI, the Council of Imams and Ulamas in Northern Nigeria also called on Muslims to defend themselves against attacks by the insurgents. Disputing Boko Haram Myths But in what seemed to be a continuation of the conspiracy theories being woven around Boko Haram, the JNI hinted in the statement that the attack on the Kano mosque was precipitated to justify government’s request for extension of emergency rule in the three North-East states. President Jonathan had last month written the National Assembly requesting an extension of the emergency the three states. But both chambers have not been able to make up their minds on the necessity of extending it for the fourth time, arguing that the action has not be effective in curbing the Boko Haram insurgency. However, Nigeria’s military chiefs have argued that they need the emergency rule to enable the military defeat the insurgents. “But must blood be spilled to justify the extension of state of emergency? Why is it that any time the ineffective state of emergency is about to elapse and/or an extension is being sought, attacks are carried out with sophistication?” JNI pointedly asked in the statement. Sources told this magazine that it was to refute such assertions that Vice-President Namadi Sambo quickly disassociated the government from the attack on the Kano mosque when he went to visit survivors of the attack. He also said it was inconceivable that government would wilfully unleash violence on the citizenry just to extend emergency rule. “The casualty list of Boko Haram insurgency in the country clearly shows that that the sect neither respects creed nor tribe. The history of the group’s operation indeed shows that it targets any large gathering of people, be it religious worshippers, school or market. Since 2011, thousands of Nigerians have been killed by the sect and properties worth several millions of naira destroyed. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that no less than 650,000 people have been displaced by the insurgency in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. And, these numbers of internally displaced Nigerians cut across both the Christian and Muslim faiths,” a commentator in a national newspaper noted in an article he wrote last week. [caption id="attachment_16298" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Kano mosque blast[/caption] In the same vein, analysts also argued that recent attacks by the sect disproved some of the myths that it is linked to politics, as has been argued by the Peoples Democratic Party and supporters of President Jonathan. The ruling party had taken advantage of attacks by the terrorist group to level accusation against the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, as having a hand in the festering of Boko Haram insurgency. After the 14 April bomb attack which claimed about 100 lives in a bus station in a suburb of Abuja, Olisah Metuh, national publicity secretary of PDP, had issued a statement in which he put the blame on some “unpatriotic persons, especially those in the APC, who have been making utterances and comments, promoting violence and blood-letting as a means of achieving political control”. Metuh, who had also in the past likened the opposition party to the deadly Janjaweed and anti-Seleka rebels, added that “their hearts have been hardened and they are embittered by the fact that they have been rejected by the people”. Adamu Muazu, the chairman of PDP, has also insinuated that joys over significant milestones in national affairs recorded by the administration are always dampened by attacks of the insurgent group which usually follow. This was in the belief that Boko Haram attacks were politically motivated to take the shine off achievements of the Jonathan administration . The narrative is part of the larger persecution complex that Boko Haram is a manifestation of the threat by politicians, especially of Islamic and northern Nigeria extraction, just before the 2011 general elections, to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan if he was elected into office. The claim is that the insurgency is northern Nigeria’s response to loss of power to southern Nigeria. [caption id="attachment_16297" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Governor Geidam: For the gallantry of the Army, Damaturu would have been taken[/caption] It was also claimed that the war against terrorism has dragged on because opposition leaders are deliberating sabotaging efforts to end it by not cooperating with the federal government to build a non-partisan coalition against the insurgents. Such claims have been countered by the fact that Boko Haram started before the election of President Jonathan into office. Moreover, it has been argued that even if there was a political side to Boko Haram, the current insurgency the country is experiencing has since gone past the stage of politics. “If Boko Haram was able to get their hands on Buhari who is the leading presidential aspirant today, they will kill him. Remember, they have also tried to kill him before. Even, Atiku had to join other leaders of Adamawa State to organise hunters to support the military to drive out the insurgents from Mubi. If he is a benefactor of the insurgents, would he do that?” queried a source last week. While revealing his intention to sue Stephen Davis for linking him with the terrorist organisation, Ali Modu Sheriff said the allegations are the handiwork of mischief makers, especially in the APC which he recently left. He also questioned the identity of the Australian negotiator, wondering why the negotiator remains faceless till date and refused to submit his report to the government that reportedly appointed him. “I have instructed my lawyers to find and sue the faceless Australian,” he affirmed. Sheriff also told journalists that he met Mohammed Yussuf, the leader of the Boko Haram sect, after he had been arrested by the army, while dis- sociating himself from ECOMOG, a militia group said to have been part of organisations that evolved into Boko Haram. Moreover, such narratives neglect the fact that Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno State, appointed Alhaji Buji Foi, a Boko Haram leader, as the commissioner for Religions Affairs in the state. Foi resigned from the Sheriff government before joining the Boko Haram sect. The sophistication of recent attacks by Boko Haram also dispute the perception of the sect’s fighters as being a rag-tag army. It has been established, for instance, that the group now has working for it former rebels from Mali and Libya, among other places. Even the way the insurgents were able to put men of the Nigerian Army on the run is an indication of their increasing sophistication. Also, the insurgents are in possession of better weaponry than the men of the Nigerian Army, as has been shown during recent confrontations. This fact, analysts said, implied that the Army must stop the claims that it cannot kill the insurgents because it is not fighting a conventional war. The Army, according to analysts, must now know that it is fighting a full scale war with Boko Haram and must go out in full force against the insurgents.